Sunday 19 May 2013

At the end of a week in which the J. League celebrated its 20th anniversary, Kashima Antlers hosted Nagoya Grampus in a repeat of perhaps the most famous fixture from the league’s opening weekend in 1993.

That match had seen the 40-year-old Zico completely overshadow Nagoya’s famous foreign signing, Gary Lineker, in scoring a brilliant hat-trick as Kashima ran out 5-0 victors.

The Brazilian was on the pitch again two decades later to greet the players of both sides ahead of Saturday afternoon’s game, before taking his place in the VIP seats to watch his old club complete a 3-1 victory despite falling behind to Yoshizumi Ogawa’s goal after 24 minutes.

Yasushi Endo cut inside past Marcus Tulio Tanaka and fired through a crowd of players to equalise for the home team just before the break, before second-half strikes from Atsutaka Nakamura and Yuya Osako sealed all three points.

Kashima remain the most successful club in Japanese professional football history with seven J. League titles, but surprise package Omiya Ardija are still the team to beat this season after moving five points clear at the top with a 2-1 win over Shonan Bellmare.

The Squirrels’ record 21-match unbeaten run finally came to an end with defeat at Vegalta Sendai last weekend, but they demonstrated their determination to bounce back after 15 minutes when Daigo Watanabe cut the ball across the penalty area for Zlatan Ljubijankič to backheel in the opener.

The Slovenian then hit the bar two minutes later, only for Shonan to counter and win a corner from which defender Kazunori Ono headed the visitors level.

It looked like being another frustrating afternoon for the J1 leaders until nine minutes from time, when Watanabe struck a low shot from inside the D to register his first goal of the season. Things got even better for Omiya with the news that Sendai had this week done them a favour, by holding second-place Yokohama F Marinos to a goalless draw at the Nissan Stadium.

The latter scoreline allowed Urawa Reds in third to close within a point of Marinos with a game in hand thanks to a 6-2 thumping of struggling Sagan Tosu later on Saturday evening.

A Yuki Abe penalty was all that divided the sides at half-time, while a see-saw second half left Tosu fighting for an equaliser at 3-2 with ten minutes to play.

But the home side took advantage of the space afforded them to slice their opponents open on the flanks three times in quick succession, as Genki Haraguchi, Daisuke Nasu, and late substitute Shinya Yajima each got on the end of crosses to make it half a dozen goals from as many scorers. Tomoaki Makino and Shinzo Koroki were the other Urawa players on the scoresheet.

Defending champions Sanfrecce Hiroshima enjoyed a similarly prolific afternoon to stay in touch with the leading pack thanks to a 5-1 drubbing of Ventforet Kofu.

Paraguayan international José Ortigoza gave Kofu a shock lead after just four minutes, but Hisato Sato levelled almost immediately with a shot that flew in off the underside of the bar – the first of three goals for the new J1 top scorer that afternoon.

Hiroki Mizumoto took the ball past Hideomi Yamamoto and scored with an excellent effort from outside the box to put Hiroshima in front before the interval, and the hosts never looked back in a second half during which they could have had a lot more but for the heroics of Ventforet goalkeeper Kohei Kawata.

In the end they settled for five – Sato completing his hat-trick to take him to nine for the season, before 18-year-old midfielder Gakuto Notsuda scored his first ever J. League goal four minutes from time.

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Bottom team Oita Trinita finally sealed their first league win of the season at the 12th attempt, edging Albirex Niigata 3-2 in a tense encounter at the Big Swan.

The visitors looked set for heartbreak after leading twice against the run of play only to concede a 90th-minute equaliser to Brazilian midfielder Léo Silva – his first since joining Niigata from Portuguesa.

But there were still eight minutes of stoppage time to play following a collision of heads earlier in the second half between Kentaro Oi and Kim Kun-Hoan, which left both Albirex centre-backs requiring lengthy treatment and ultimately being carried off the pitch.

This left enough time for Oita forward Daiki Takamatsu to head the ball across for the onrunning defender Kohei Tokita, who smashed it home for a dramatic winner right at the death.

Elsewhere, Jubilo Iwata’s struggles continued with a 4-2 home defeat to Kawasaki Frontale. Cerezo Osaka beat Kashiwa Reysol 3-1 to register their first win in three, while FC Tokyo emerged as 2-0 victors over Shimizu S-Pulse.

J2 HIGHLIGHTSThere were thumping victories for both Montedio Yamagata and Gamba Osaka on Sunday afternoon, with the former racing to a 6-0 rout away to Gainare Tottori while Gamba were 5-1 winners at home to second-from-bottom Thespakusatsu Gunma. But Vissel Kobe remain three points clear at the top after beating Ehime FC 4-2 to make it 10 wins from 15 so far this season.

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